27/01/2024
⚠️ATOMIC ENERGY LAB, THE WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS TOY.
In 1950, the laboratory kit “Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab”, a product of Alfred Carlton Gilbert, was put on sale.
Inside it contained:
• 1 electroscope,
• 1 Geiger counter (instrument to measure radioactivity)
• 1 spintariscope (instrument for observing nuclear disintegrations)
• 1 a fog camera (instrument for detecting particles with ionizing radiation)
If it were little, I also had:
• 4 RADIACTIVE MINERALS, which were: Pb-210, Ru-106, Zn-65 and Po-210 MIN️.
Despite its low level of radiation from the elements that came into it, it is considered one of the most dangerous toys ever.
It wasn't the danger that put him off the market, but his high price of $49.50. For this reason, it was only sold between 1950 and 1951.
Fun fact at the end is that even Columbia University bought 4 kits to do studies with them.
Would you have bought it?
✅ Bonus fact: The instruction came with a note saying the government would give them $10,000 if they discovered new sources of radioactive material with the kit.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/amp/fun-and-uranium-for-the-whole-family-in-this-1950s-science-kit-2650279567
